Liverpool's acting mayor calls for national coronavirus lockdown

Wendy Simon says alarming levels' of new more transmissible variant means action is needed urgently

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The acting mayor of Liverpool has called for a national lockdown amid rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in the UK.

Wendy Simon and the city council's cabinet say the speed of the rise in coronavirus cases and a new more transmissible variant mean action is needed to save lives and stop hospitals being overwhelmed. She said the number of infections had reached alarming levels".